Di Foster coaches business owners and leaders by holding up a mirror to what they're missing. The thing she finds most often is a lack of self-awareness.
Di is known as a speaker for her story of living through cancer. She explains why she's moved on from telling it the old way. We talk about the gap between the public and private versions of ourselves, money stories and the personal thermostat that sets what we're comfortable earning, finding the one thing that matters and the words we use about ourselves. We end on a thought for every health and safety person: the job is to do yourself out of a job.
What we cover in this episode
- Why she stopped telling her story the old way
- The gap between the public and private self
- Holding up a mirror for business owners
- Self-awareness and why it's rare
- Money stories and your personal thermostat
- Finding the one thing
- Happiness, grief and resilience
- Doing yourself out of a job
Episode chapters
- 0:00 Catching up with Di Foster
- 2:02 Why she changed how she tells her story
- 5:07 What shaped her
- 8:12 The public and private self
- 10:15 Holding up a mirror
- 12:16 Communicating with difficult personalities
- 16:23 Self-awareness
- 20:28 Money stories
- 25:35 Your personal thermostat
- 29:41 The one thing
- 32:28 Where her message is heading
- 36:30 Fear in business
- 39:32 The words we use about ourselves
- 45:35 Advice to her younger self
- 49:41 Happiness, grief and resilience
- 1:01:54 Doing yourself out of a job
- 1:02:55 How to reach Di
Connect with Di Foster
Di Foster: difoster.com
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This episode sits in the Leading people and culture collection. Browse every episode or follow the show on Spotify so you don't miss the next one.
About the host
Matt Jones is the founder of Advanced Safety and a HASANZ-registered health and safety consultant. He's a Professional Member of NZISM, holds a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health and founded the New Zealand Health and Safety Professionals community. His book is Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility.
Guests share their own views and experience. This page is general information, not legal advice. Latest update: 13 November 2026
